Our Objective

It is spot on that the mission of the organization is to promote a peaceful Cuba that considers human rights as well as economic and political freedoms as per the constitution. The laws in Cuba clearly protected the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human rights. Specifically, the constitution endorses each of those rights and specifies the essential guarantees of their exercise. Additionally, all the rights and freedoms stated in the legislation are very well expounded in the different legal provisions that make up the local basic law.

It is unfortunate that the undercutting of basic civil and political rights is stated into the Cuban constitution. The domestic legislation includes general statements of fundamental rights while other necessities give the state the extraordinary right to penalize individuals who attempt to enjoy their freedom of expression, opinion, association and assembly. Additionally, the law demeans the right to a fair trial. It allows the country’s highest authority to control the courts and prosecutors, encouraging pretrial detentions, arrests without warrant, and even restriction of the right to defense.

In relation to what the law stipulates, there has been total failure in terms of the Cuban legislation providing legal protection to defendants. This pushed John Edwards to start the Firmas Jama Y Liberated organization, which would work to push the Cuban government to modify its laws to match universal human rights standards rather than approving laws that will further restrict the basic laws. The government has on many occasions declined the call to reform the most controversial parts of its laws. Increased prosecution of peaceful activists and failure to offer amnesty to political prisoners depicts the impunity that Cuba’s laws continue to exercise on its citizens. Firmas Jama Y Liberated will endeavor to mobilize democratic governments around the world to pose policies towards Cuba that promote genuine reforms.

The Cuban constitution pledges the full freedom and dignity of individuals and the enjoyment of their rights. Unfortunately, the multiple constitutional provisions undermine those guarantees. The law denies freedom when it is contrary to the goals of the social State, the people’s decision to create communism and socialism, and social legality. When such laws are applied to the public, they become a breeding ground for politicized denial of fundamental rights. Besides the conditionality of rights created by these provisions, a good number of constitutional articles seem to restrict the same rights they claim to protect. The organization will work to fixing such issues.